Washington bickers over loans while college students struggle - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

The math is getting scary for students needing the most help paying for college.

IUPUI student Kirsten Vitols has a child, a part-time job and mounting student loans.

"It was $6,000. Then the next time it was $9,000 and now it is $12,000," she said, describing her student loan debt. Kirsten says she has "no idea" what the final number will be once she graduates.

Nearly two-thirds of students graduating Indiana's state universities are in debt. Their loans average about $25,000.

Interest rates on the most affordable loans will double this summer when funding for the federally subsidized Stafford Student Loan program runs out.

The president is pressing Congress to extend the 2007 law that cut loan rates to 3.4 percent. If the law is allowed to expire on July 1, it would double rates to 6.8 percent.

If Congress fails to act, it means low income and moderate income families and their students would pay the same interest rate as everyone else. That's an additional financial hardship for most of IUPUI's students.

"You are looking at an extra $4,000 of interest accumulation for that student. It makes borrowing more expensive," said Marvin Smith, director of financial services at IUPUI.

Proposals to fund the loan program are held up in Washington's political and budget bickering.

Barry Henry, an IUPUI senior, says politicians are playing games with his future.

"The president is saying he wants to do certain things. Congress says we are not going to let you do that. We all feel like we are stuck in the middle," he said.

He's also stuck under a growing pile of student loans. It takes a typical graduate about ten years to pay them off - at a time in life when many people are paying for weddings, saving for a down payment on a home or starting a family.